Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Jehovah’s Witnesses Given ISIS Asterisk in Russian Media

Paul
Goble

Staunton, July 19 – On Monday, the
Russian Supreme Court confirmed the ban on the Jehovah’s Witnesses on the basis
of Russian government claims that the Witnesses are an extremist organization;
and already yesterday, Russia media discussing the denomination have been
forced to put an asterisk after any reference to indicate that it has been
banned as extremist.

That asterisk not only leads to a
footnote, already used in the case of the Islamic State, that declares that “the
organization has been recognized as extremist and its activity in Russia banned
by a decision of the court,” a formulation likely to spark more attacks on the
Witnesses among Russians who will now view them as equivalent to ISIS.

An example of this unfortunate
Russian practice is provided in both the title and the content of an article by
Kavkaz-Uzel specifying that the defenders of the Witnesses say they are “victims
of political persecution” and that they plan to appeal the Russian high court’s
decision to the European Court of Human Rights (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/306309/).

Such asterisks, like putting defendants in Russian courts
behind bars at hearings, may seem like small things; but they are likely to
cast a far larger shadow on those to whom they are applied because of the way
in which they will become the Muscovite equivalent of “a scarlet letter” on
anyone they are applied.

And
thus, those who care about human rights need not only to support the Jehovah’s
Witnesses’ appeal to Strasbourg but also to be alert to the ways in which
Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin is virtually inviting Russians to attack a group whose
only “crime” is to obey the law, read the Bible, and encourage others to do
likewise.